


Step

by salatuh



Series: Everlasting Arms [4]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Genderfluid Character, John is a damn gem, M/M, Multi, dressing up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 16:55:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13663296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salatuh/pseuds/salatuh
Summary: It's been a few months since the shenanigans at Halloween time and John is ready to step into the world as his true self.A/N: this is the fourth installment of the Everlasting Arms verse, and probably will not make sense unless you've read the other parts first. :DI will add tags etc as I update.Rated E for later chapters <3





	Step

He woke with a text from Thomas and a smile grew across his face.

 **Sir:** _Good morning, darling._

John bit his lip on a grin, threw the dark duvet off himself and tapped out his routine morning reply. His mouth unhinged in a comfortable yawn, the plans for his day with James starting to take form in his mind as the morning sun peeked in through his curtains. He ran a hand through his wild locks and willed himself to get up and start preparing.

He showered and washed himself with the earthy cedarwood and lavender-infused soap James gave him on Valentine’s Day a few months back. John tapped on his phone screen while toweling his hair and started his favorite playlist.

It was a day to bloom. He could feel it already, even with the undertone of nerves beneath the surface of his skin.

John began humming with the start of a new song as he turned the knobs on his sink and filled the basin with hot water. He rolled onto the balls of his feet and softly tapped down on his heels in a swaying motion as the beat picked up.

“I’ve got sunshine…” Silver quietly sang along while shaking a bottle of shaving cream and pouring the mousse into his palm. “On a cloudy day…”

His hips rocked gently from side to side while he lathered his face.

“When it’s cold outside…” He caught his reflection in the mirror and smiled with his eyes. Silver kept one side of his face taut for a close shave. He ran the warmed, wet razor’s edge along his jawline in quick and careful strips, eradicating every layer of stubble in its wake with an upbeat rhythm. He checked himself in the mirror with a careful eye, then hummed and smiled in his own approval.

“I’ve got so much honey...” Silver sang with more fervor, chuckling while he brought up one leg prickling with hair to the sink and cupped warm water over his calf. He quieted and murmured under his breath while lathering up. “The bees envy me…” He stripped one leg of hair and rubbed lotion into it before starting on the next.

Silver rubbed his smooth calves and thighs together and shook his head of curls while stepping to the beat of the song.

“Well, I guess you’d say, ‘what can make me feel this way—’”

The music stopped on his phone screen and an image of James lit up across it. Silver bit his lip and cleared his throat before answering.

“Hello there.”

James raised his eyebrow and chuckled while pretending to peer down through the screen at John.

“Well, _hello_.”

John shook his head and grinned while he held up his phone so that James couldn’t see below his shoulders.

“You pervert.”

He watched James open the door to his and Thomas’ home and walk down the stone pathway, the light breeze brushing through his auburn locks which brushed the tops of his ears.

“Says the person who _quite eagerly_ watched me ride Tomtom the other night without pause.”

John felt his face flush red. He snorted and raised an eyebrow with mild concern.

“Goodness me, talking about our bedroom proclivities out in the open. What would the neighbors think?”

“Fuck what the neighbors think,” James said with a chortle. “As far as I’m concerned, I can say what I please; it isn’t hurting anyone.”

John watched James’ smile morph into a fond quirk of his lips while he held up his hand to shade him from the mid morning sun. He took in James’ light blue sweater underneath his black leather jacket, then quirked his head as if to look further into the screen when he saw the edge of a package under James’ arm.

“What’s that?”

James’ phone screen tilted while he said “shit” under his breath. John chuckled and listened to James shuffling around until the screen righted again. He walked out of his restroom and sat on the edge of his bed, curiously observing James holding up a square box with a dark blue ribbon around it.

“This?” James provided.

John nodded and perched his elbows on his knees while he waited for him to continue.

“This,” James looked at the box before pursing his lips in his telltale sign of nerves, “...Is something for you.” He ducked his head before looking up at John with a mischievous glint. “You might not want to get fully dressed until I get there.”

John bit his lip and puffed out a nervous laugh. He rubbed his legs together, a hand squeezed between his thighs, then stretched back until he flopped onto his mattress with a groan wrapped in nerves and excitement.

“And why is that?”

He smiled wider alongside James through the screen, the wisps of his anxiety ebbing and flowing, but not deterring him from staying the course. He watched James lower the box and stroll past the front gate, carefully closing it behind himself and giving John a full view of his and Thomas’ house.

“Just a hunch is all,” James shrugged and his eyes flitted to something beyond his phone. it was enough to make John turn and look behind himself in an attempt to see what only James could.  He turned back around at James’ quiet laughter. “Cab’s here. I’ll see you soon.”  

John waved back at the frozen image of James and his raised hand, two fingers pointed up at the unseen sky, and slumped his shoulders at the end of the call.

“Not get fully dressed…” he murmured to himself in contemplation. Silver laid on his side, absently twirling his phone between his fingers and thumbing his bare wrist. He hummed while he stretched over and in front of himself, reaching for the velvet jewelry box on his nightstand.

He cradled the box in his palms and laid his phone by his side before taking a steady breath. John flicked open the lid, then ran his fingertips over the silver wristband, validating its solid and cool form. He carefully lifted the watch out of its white silk pillowcase and slipped it over his wrist with a calm sigh of relief. He closed his eyes and pressed the watch’s face to his ear; the gentle rhythmic ticking of the hands keeping him grounded and present with the moving of time.

The lid snapped shut with a gentle finality as he moved the small empty case back to its home beside his bed.

“I’ve got all the riches baby,” Silver sang while he glided to his dresser beside the closet. “One man can claim…” A drawer slid open and he peered inside with the smallest hint of a shaky breath. His eyes slipped shut in sync with a swallow, and he exhaled slowly while he rolled his head once. Silver blindly reached into the drawer, letting fate decide which underwear he would don for the day. He peeked with one eye at first and brightly grinned at the navy blue boy shorts in his hand. “Oh yes I do!”

Silver slipped the soft material over his legs and shimmied it up his hips until he was pleased with its snug and comfortable hold around his skin. He hummed along while he checked the time on his wristwatch. James should arrive any minute now… but perhaps he had enough time to put on something else before he got to the front door…

±±±

James rang the doorbell to Silver’s apartment and patiently stood in place. He checked the time on his phone again before pocketing it and holding his present for SIlver in his large palms. His fingers played with the fringe of the ribbon while he took a deep breath. He wondered if Silver hadn’t heard him ring and he should try again.

He composed himself with a quick clearing of his throat at the sound of Silver’s voice growing closer behind the door.

“Coming! Coming…” James kept the box in front of him between deceptively relaxed hands and schooled his expression to something feigning a calm disposition. SIlver opened his door and popped his head of still damp curls through it while he flashed a wide smile. “Hello, again!”

Silver opened the door wide enough for James to walk past the threshold and into the clean minimalist space that is his residence. He loosely wrapped his arms around James’ neck and brought him closer while he nuzzled his skin. James’ woodsy cologne mixed with his personal scent was still as intoxicating as the first time he scented it.

“Hello again,” James rumbled back and kissed the top of Silver’s head.

He gently grasped Silver’s waist and took in his bare chest, his hairless underarms and the seam of sheer pantyhose that settled just beneath his own palms. He tilted his mouth in a fond manner and thought of how very similar it was to see John in clinging fabric like what he wore  on stage for the dance company— or even as he did on that Halloween last year… Yet this was so very different; this was not a game, nor a persona other than Silver’s own. This was John preparing for his debut performance on the stage of the world, free of the masks society had pressed into his palms and silently urged him to wear for so long.

Silver hummed while he kissed up his neck and to his well-groomed chin. He rubbed their noses together softly and shakily sighed with a smile before pulling away and walking with a steadfast focus toward his bedroom.

James stood there and observed in mild reverence of how much more… free Silver seemed while he moved down the hallway, his arms swaying by his sides in ease.

Silver walked into his room and leaned back until his top half bent outwardly.

“Are you coming?”

James coughed and nodded, shifting the box between his hands and walked down the hall until he finally met Silver in the bedroom. It was lit with a warm ember glow from his two standing lamps on either side of the bed, showcasing the layout of outfits atop his covers. He stood before them and felt Silver lean on his shoulder, a hand slinking into one of his own while they both looked at the varying options Silver laid out.

“Hmmm…” James began with a nod. He held the box out while he asked Silver if he wanted to open it. When Silver reached out, he pulled back and turned to look him in the eye. “I didn’t hear you.”

Silver jiggled his leg and curled his toes into the pantyhose and the dark grey carpet beneath his feet. He felt the carpet’s firm yet plush fibers rub the spaces between his skin, meshing with the sheer material, then breathed out until his uptight shoulders sagged.

“Yes...please?”

James rubbed Silver’s back and smiled.

“That’s better,” he said, and offered it to him at last. His empty hand twitched in anticipation while he watched Silver untie the ribbon and slide off the top. He felt his skin flush then relent when he saw Silver’s shy smile and glistening azure eyes react to what lay inside.  

John pressed his hands into the steel blue shawl within the box and rubbed the silver-threaded fringe between his thumb and forefinger. He then gently lay the rest of the box on his bed and spread the lightly shimmering fabric wide open. A chuckle slipped out of him before he pressed his lips together and threw the shawl over his head, eyes closed while he soaked in the feel of it encompassing him.

James smiled at the image before him, then scratched the back of his head, unwilling to take away from Silver’s moment yet unsure of what to do with his hands. He instead turned to John’s clothes on the bed.

There was his black dress with a deep neckline and a billowing skirt that brushed John’s shins whenever he wore it. James recalled how John blushed a deep scarlet the first time he showed it off in front of him and Thomas.

Beside it lay two familiar scoop necked sweaters— one a soft grey, the other a deep green— that John had worn on different occasions, the green one he had most recently donned to Jack’s birthday party a few weeks ago.

James nodded and smiled when his eyes landed on something he had yet to see John wear— a creme-coloured pencil skirt made of a buttery soft leather, a metal zipper with teeth that ran halfway down its back and beckoned his fingers to run over it out of curiosity alone.

“What do you think?” Silver nervously cleared his throat and held onto the shawl around his elbows.

James stopped himself short of touching and looked up instead, appraising exactly what Silver was asking for his thoughts on. They had talked out their plans for this particular day, making sure they went out to the nearby cafe when it would be a bit slower than rush hour, walking there together if the weather permitted…

James leaned forward and touched the top of the skirt while he replied with a soft lilt in his gravelled tone.

“Is this new?”

John swayed forward and picked it up, pressing the skirt to his front while he bit his top lip.

“Madi made it for me, a bit ago,” he blew out and grinned widely. “I was thinking it might be nice to wear it out to lunch…”

“Of course,” James reassuringly supplied.

John nodded and hesitated before finally raising a leg and stepping into his skirt, back unzipped and open. It slid up his legs smoothly until the leather naturally clung to his hips. He turned around and looked over his shoulder at Flint.

“Do you mind zipping me up?”

James came and moved closer, taking the tongue of the zipper and gently pulling it up until the teeth click-click-clicked closed at the very top. He stroked his palms over the material until they pressed into John’s hips, holding him close enough so he could hook his chin over his bare shoulder.

John rolled his head back and swallowed at the feel of James’ goatee gently scraping over his skin. He sighed when James’ warm breath tickled his collarbone. His hands roamed up and slotted through freckled fingers, then pressed joined skin into the leather beneath in a melting embrace. Silver rubbed his knees together while he rolled up into James’ chest. He unlaced their fingers with a deep exhale through his nose and a nervous chuckle.

“Alright, grey sweater might go better with the shawl, yes?”

James rolled his shoulders underneath his black leather jacket and stuffed his hands in his jeans’ back pockets.

“I think they’d go well together, yes,” he agreed. James’ skin flushed a deep red while he watched Silver slip his arms through the soft fabric and bring it over his head. It draped on his frame so that his breastbone peeked out the top, the sleeves fell down his arms and brushed his knuckles, and the bottom’s ribbed edge gently hugged his waist just over his skirt pockets. Silver then picked up the shawl from the bedside and wrapped it around and over once on each side of his neck, smoothing the shimmering fringe over his front with his hands.

James’ fingers twitched while he forced himself out of his stupor at the sight of John’s bright blue eyes looking up and silently searching for his approval. He swallowed again for good measure and smiled warmly.

“You look beyond beautiful.”

John felt his admission wash over his skin like a warm veil of truth. He took James’ hand and squeezed it once, gently.

“Well,” he began. “We’re going to walk there, yes?”

He bit his bottom lip, tapped his fingers over his thighs, and slid one stockinged foot over the other, toes catching on the sheer fabric while he waited for James’ assent.

“If that is what you’d like to do, then indeed,” James supplied. “It’s a rather lovely day for a walk.”

James watched Silver push the ball of one foot over the top of the other then loosen his lip.

“Alright,” Silver said as he pushed a stray curl behind one of his small ears. He stepped over to his closet and bent down in search of his most comfortable pair of heels while humming to his unfinished song from earlier.

James did his best not to be captivated by the image of Silver’s leather-covered derriere and instead pulled out his phone to send their Sir a message.

 **_James H.F.:_ ** _We should be there at the scheduled time, Sir._

It didn’t take long for James to get a reply.

 **_TomTom:_ ** _See my poppets soon._

James looked back up just in time to see Silver’s flashing grin while he clicked his heels together and stepped over, just a smidgen taller than he was before.

“Shall we?” Silver supplied while he held out his arm for James, head held high.

James chuckled and linked their arms together.

“Lead the way.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments ease my addled mind <3
> 
> Feel free to follow me on Tumblr @silversexual
> 
> <3,
> 
> Maze


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